No. 174 Squadron — Mauritius

No. 174 (Mauritius) Squadron RAF formed on 3 March 1942 at RAF Manston, drawing its nucleus of eight pilots and seventeen Hurricanes from No. 607 Squadron. In its early months the squadron carried out fighter-bomber and anti-shipping strikes along the Channel coast, and it took part in the Dieppe Raid of August 1942. Re-equipped with Typhoon IBs from April 1943, the squadron became an increasingly potent ground-attack force, striking radar stations, V-1 flying-bomb sites, and German communications in northern France. When the 2nd Tactical Air Force was constituted in June 1943, No. 174 joined it as part of No. 83 Group, and after D-Day it deployed to Normandy with No. 121 Wing to provide close air support for the advancing Allied armies. The squadron pressed on through France and into Germany before disbanding on 8 April 1945, though it was briefly reconstituted twice more — latterly with Tempest Vs — before its final disbandment at Faßberg on 31 March 1946.